Water, water everywhere — and yes, plenty to drink
It may seem strange, but one consequence of last week’s storm which hit Hobart is that despite the record rainfall, the subsequent clean up put a significant strain on the city’s drinking water supply.
While TasWater was well-prepared to manage the system, the strain was caused by two separate but related impacts. The huge amount of water flowing into the River Derwent from its surrounding catchment was extremely turbid with soil, leaf litter and debris. This made it more complex to treat when drawn into the Bryn Estyn Water Treatment Plant near New Norfolk and the capacity of drinking water production was significantly reduced, the process also taking longer than usual. As a result Hobart relied on TasWater’s storage system of 117 reservoirs across the city’s water supply network. These reservoirs located in many of Hobart’s higher suburbs hold more than 425 million litres of drinking water. The day after the storm clean-up crews, business owners and householders across the city began hosing down the streets, basements and buildings to clear away the mud and debris. This led to a huge draw-down from the reservoirs without supply being replenished as quickly as usual from Bryn Estyn. Even though TasWater operators had the Bryn Estyn Water Treatment Plant back at full production as soon as practical, the short period of high demand and lower level of replacement highlights the importance of the reservoir network, built to hold a reliable supply in storage for occasions like this. All largely interconnected and electronically monitored, TasWater operators can see real time data showing changes in demand and how much water is available in each reservoir. Valves can by switched and pumps activated to ensure that all areas of the drinking water supply network have enough water to meet demand.
TasWater’s network of reservoirs is just one part of the complex infrastructure which enables it to provide water to meet every need – even helping us get back up and running after a disaster; all part of TasWater’s service, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.